The Deaths of Innocents: What Really Drives 'Jihad?'

In this week of analyzing the 9/11 attacks, why so little talk about the deaths of innocent people in Muslim countries? Our guest this morning is Gareth Porter, investigative journalist and historian specializing in U.S. national security policy who just wrote the piece "Ignoring Post-9/11 Deaths of Innocents."

He wrote: "In the commentary on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the news and infotainment media predictably framed the discussion by the question of how successful the CIA and the military have been in destroying al Qaeda." That article is at www.consortiumnews.com.
AP is reporting today: "Taliban insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles at the U.S. Embassy, NATO headquarters and other buildings in the heart of the Afghan capital Tuesday."
"Absent from the torrent of opinion and analysis was any mention of how the U.S. military occupation of Muslim lands and wars which continue to kill Muslim civilians fuel jihadist sentiment that will keep the threat of terrorism high for many years to come."At Monday night's Republican candidate debate, Congressman Ron Paul said, "There's a difference between military spending and defense spending. I'm tired of all the militarism we're involved in. ... I agree, we're in alot of danger but most of the danger comes from a lack of wisdom in our foreign policy. ... We're under grave threat because we're occupying so many countries. ... What would we do if another country -- say China -- did to us what we do to all those countries over there? ..."